“He could do it. If this hadn’t happened,” said Penny and I knew she was referring to me. Her voice broke when she spoke again, “He can’t be dying. Walter must be wrong about this poison.”
The air in the room stirred, and I imagined Rose must have moved closer to my wife, probably to put an arm around her. “We can’t know for sure, but he was very sure of what his father taught him about it. I cannot think that there would be many poisons like that in the world. You have to prepare yourself, in case the worst does happen.”
“This is my fault, Rose! I chose to take the earth-bond knowing it would blind me to the future. This was my gamble, and now it has cost me my husband, and possibly my child! How can I prepare myself for that!? There is no strength in the world that could help me to face it. How do I tell my husband that my arrogance has doomed our daughter as well as him?” insisted Penny in a voice thick with tears.
I longed to comfort her, but her words had frozen my heart in sudden shock. Our daughter? I knew she couldn’t mean Irene; therefore it had to be Moira. How? Then I remembered and cold fear replaced the blood in my veins.
“I’m sure she’s just sick, Penny. She never had a chance to eat or drink anything at the table,” said Rose reassuringly.
“It was in the wine,” I said slowly, opening my eyes. “She snuck a drink from the cup when she was bringing it to me.”
Penny looked down upon me, beautiful despite tears and puffy eyes. “Are you sure?” she asked fearfully.
I nodded. “I still had my magesight then… I was watching her as she took the tray from Peter.”
“Peter Tucker!” exclaimed Rose, in a moment of sudden insight. “After all these years I never suspected the snake still had venom in him!” she added with growing anger.
“Shhh!” admonished Penny. “His sister is in the next room,” she reminded, referring to Lilly.
“Wait a bit before you call out the guard,” I suggested quietly. “The wine was poisoned back in Albamarl, when those men tried to assassinate King Nicholas. Peter had nothing to do with it.” I quickly filled them in on what Karenth had told me.
“How do you know he had nothing to do with it? You already know of his prior reason to kill you,” said Rose firmly.
“In seven years, neither he, nor his sister, has ever given me cause to doubt them, even though I do not doubt that he once hoped to get his vengeance. I will not listen to slander against the man unless someone can show me real proof. Besides, if Peter ever decides to take his revenge he will do it with sharp steel, not poisoned wine,” I replied in a tone that implied I would brook no further argument.
Rose had never met an argument she couldn’t further, and she wasn’t about to stop now. “How could you possibly know that?” she asked.
Because he keeps an enchanted dagger close against his heart at all times, I thought to myself, but I declined to reveal that bit of information. It would only further incriminate the man I was certain had nothing to do with my poisoning. Peter Tucker might still harbor a secret grudge against me, but I had known him for too long to suspect his character. He was a good man, through and through. If and when he decided to seek his due, he would do it with his own hands, not by poison.
“It’s a feeling,” I told her instead. “I trust him and from what I learned from Karenth, his only connection to the whole thing was doing his job, which happened to put him in that place at that time.”
“Let it go, Rose,” urged Penny. “I trust him as well, and before I took the earth bond, my intuition was something worth paying heed. My heart always told me he would never hurt us.”
Rose looked back and forth between the two of us before letting out a long sigh, “I’m not used to losing arguments, and it never happened before I met both of you. I can never win when you both argue against me.” She said it petulantly, but her voice was masking a smile.
I knew for a fact that that was a lie, even with Penny and me on the same side Rose rarely took a position in an argument that she couldn’t win. I let her comment slide though, for a wave of nausea was sweeping over me and I hadn’t the heart to start bantering. I tried to ignore the queasiness and change the subject instead, “How long have I been asleep?”
“No more than five or six hours,” answered Penny, “We are into the small hours of the morning now.”
“Where is Moira?” I asked then.
“Asleep in her room.”
“Would you bring her to me? She can sleep here,” I suggested.
Penny gave me a look, “Right now?”
“We can be sick together,” I told her. “Later we might be too ill to appreciate it.”
Her eyes softened. “Matthew will want to come too. He’s been anxious to see you ever since Dorian carried you in.”
“That’s fine,” I acknowledged. “At least until it gets too bad. I don’t want him to see me if I get really ill. It might be too much for a child to see.”
Penny rose and started to leave, but I caught her hand, “I need to talk to Walter before you bring them though.”
“He won’t want to leave his daughter’s side,” Rose interjected. “Why not wait until morning?”
“It cannot wait,” I replied. “If he argues tell him I have that ‘look’ again. He’ll come.”
The two women nodded and left, but in the hall I could hear them talking. “What did he mean by that ‘look’?” wondered Rose aloud.
Penny’s fading voice answered as they walked away, “Probably that stupid vapid expression he gets when he thinks he’s being clever.”
Even as I’m dying she makes jokes at my expense, I thought quietly. I knew I picked the right girl. I smiled and closed my eyes while I waited for Walter.
He took longer to appear than I expected, and I fell asleep again while I waited. A soft touch on my shoulder woke me after he arrived. Dorian was leaning over me, looking anxious, while Walter stood a few feet away.
Dorian spoke first, “Mort, you look terrible.”
I caught a glimpse of his teeth and was surprised to see they were once again white, with no hint of the grey granite I had seen earlier. That’s unusual. I pushed the thought aside; whatever was going on there could wait for deeper reflection later. “You say the kindest things,” I replied sarcastically.
His eyes were rounded with concern, “I mean it. Your eyes look odd, and your skin is sallow.”
“At least I’m wearing pants,” I remarked wryly.
My friend blushed, “I have on clothes!”
“Now you do,” I replied, “but I’m afraid my image of you will never be the same again.”
“Get over it. We used to swim together as kids,” he said gruffly.
“As children!” I emphasized, “You weren’t all… hairy and ape-like back then.”
Dorian was beet-red now. “Well what do you expect? I’m a grown man!”
“What has been seen cannot be unseen,” I said in mock-seriousness while putting a hand over my eyes, as if to ward off an evil vision.
Walter interrupted then, “At least now we know what Lady Rose sees in him.”
I stared at Walter in shock and even Dorian turned to look at him, mouth agape. I had often despaired of the other wizard developing a decent sense of humor, but his latest remark was even worthy of a comic genius such as Marcus. “Wow!” I said after a moment.
“What?” asked Walter, “I thought it was funny.”
“It was!” I said to reassure him. “It was damned hilarious. I just didn’t expect it from you. Well done my friend.”
“Now you’re being condescending,” grumped Walter. “While we’re at it, he carried you back, sans trousers.”